Leandro Miranda of Banco Bradesco: The strategy of working with happy teams

“Extremely competitive markets are like the Olympic Games — winning depends on extraordinarily high performance. The secret is working with a team that feels happy because they will connect and engage more, and create more synergies; they’ll give their best and achieve top results.”

Leandro Miranda

Soccer is Brazil’s national passion, and fans hope to see their team win the so-called Triple Crown: the Campeonato Brasileiro, the Copa do Brasil and the Copa Libertadores. Leandro is a sports fan, but, as a banker, he hoped to win his own triple crown in the financial market: Euromoney’s and Global Finance’s Best Investment Bank in Brazil, and Latin America’s Most Innovative Investment Bank, awarded by The Banker. No bank had ever swept all three titles in the same year — until Leandro, leading the investment banking area at Banco Bradesco (BBI), did in 2016, 2017 and an unprecedented third time in 2018.

Sweeping the triple crown three times in a row called for a proper celebration, so the bank hosted a Family Day, a special event for the employees and their families. All employees were invited to talk about what they did at work and to share their success stories. “After that incredible record year, the team became a family and our families became part of the team, too,” Leandro says.

After such a great accomplishment and the outpouring of emotions, Leandro took a break. But, while relaxing at the beach, he fell quite ill and was rushed to the hospital. His hard work had paid off, but his health had suffered. Once out of the hospital, Leandro made changes in how he lived, including sessions of acupuncture and meditation. “The experience has changed me, and today I have a more balanced life — I’m very happy in my marriage and with my family, and I am very happy at work,” he says.

Working with foreigners

Work is fundamental to Leandro’s identity. “I could have been successful in other careers, I suppose, since I am a leader and a manager. But, above all, I am a banker,” he says about a passion that started when he was just 7 years old. “My grandfather was in the Navy and traveled all over the world, and he would bring me coins from the countries he visited,” Leandro remembers. “He always said that there was one common element that connected people and companies all over the world — and that was money.”

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Leandro attended a military school and studied law at State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj). After college, he got his first job as a lawyer in the legal department of Banco BBM, and he was immediately “in love” with finance. As he was unable to make a career move within the bank, Leandro decided to look into working for another bank.

In the 90s, Brazil was in the midst of a large-scale privatization program — offering excellent opportunities for anyone who spoke English, Spanish and French and was familiar with financial laws and regulations. Leandro fit the bill. “Banco Liberal needed someone who could explain the step-by-step process of selling a company in terms foreign investors could understand,” he says, adding that he gained a lot of experience working with several large foreign investment banks. His outstanding work garnered Leandro a full scholarship from Banco Liberal to attend an MBA program with an emphasis in finance.

When working with international operations at Banco Bozano, Leandro would again be in the spotlight. “Back then, we helped attract a lot of foreign capital to Brazil. My previous experience working with foreign investors had taught me that to be successful in doing business with them you had to understand their culture and mindset, find out what they were looking for and give them the information they needed to feel comfortable investing here. I understood that. I listened to them and showed genuine interest in their culture,” he said.

Leandro says he wanted much more than to simply meet his targets. He wanted to help bring wealth to Brazil. In 1999, Leandro was among Banco Bozano’s most talented employees, a select cohort of only four members. Among the rewards for his work, the bank offered Leandro a scholarship to attend an MBA program at the University of Michigan. This cycle would repeat several times in his career: achieving success would bring the opportunity to prepare for new challenges, which led to new successes.

One of the biggest challenges he faced came in 2003, when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected president of Brazil. “The country had reached its lowest credit risk rating in history, several foreign investors were leaving and companies had no access to the capital they needed,” he says. The shortage of bankers seemed to be a good opportunity. “I set up an investment boutique firm, called Principal Partners, and started operating with Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse and all the people I had met along the way.” It was a huge success.

Challenges are fun

Leandro says he is always trying to find alternatives to face the challenges that come his way — the reason he has been so successful in his career.

“For me, targets have always been fun challenges — never pressure. The secret is not so much about your own skills as it is about working with a team that feels happy — because they will connect and engage more, and create more synergies; they’ll give their best and achieve top results. I was a specialist in fixed income, but had less experience in mergers and acquisitions and in equities when I worked at BBI. However, I had a lot of experience leading and managing high performance teams. Then, I started setting up committees in all areas and we made our decisions by consensus. I think the best way to build a consensus is to tell people, ‘Hey, listen, I am not very familiar with many areas here. Feel free to guide me and let me learn from you — we will build this together.’ As a result, people were open to learning and they became better professionals, managers and leaders. Synergy was high and ever evolving.”

Throughout his career, Leandro says he has looked up to several professionals. For example, Jorge Paulo Lemann (Anheuser-Busch InBev), who was close to people from Banco Garantia; Paulo Ferraz (with whom he worked at Bozano), and André Esteves (BTG Pactual). “We learn and evolve, and our ‘idols’ change over time. I prefer to think of them more as ‘references’ than as ‘idols.’ I think people have qualities and points to improve. Our ideas make sense at a given point in time, at a given place.” His most important reference now is Luiz Carlos Trabuco Cappi, Chaiman of the Board of Banco Bradesco. “He knows everything about the history of world banking. He is a philosopher, and he has an incredible memory and a very humane perspective. When I was in the hospital, Trabuco called me three times. I was really moved, and he connected me with the Bradesco Organization in a different way.”

Having people to look up to and who inspire us is very important, but it is also important to help others develop, too. “I’ve always been keen on developing successors,” he says. “And very keen on confirming them for the team in just a few months.” Only those who have a successor are free to take on new positions. “And I have never been afraid [of developing my successors]. I have always believed that the next generations should be better than the ones that came before.”

A place for people

In almost three decades working in the financial markets, Leandro says that the work environment has improved drastically. “There’s no room for any kind of harassment today. To attract talent, companies must understand this new generation. Otherwise, they’ll disappear.”

All employers, large and small, must focus on diversity and inclusion. “My grandmother, who helped raise me, was the first woman to join the Navy in Brazil. I had great examples of strong women who faced a lot of difficulties in their lives,” he says. “But looking at the gender issue alone is not enough. There are religious, economic and social class issues — and a background issue as well. I come from a poor family, and I had many friends who were smart, but because they were black, or non-white, and poor, they had limited opportunities. You have to allow people to have a voice and give people a place because they can make a difference.”

Besides sports, Leandro enjoys opera and reading biographies and philosophy. Lately, he has been reading about stoicism. “According to this philosophy, you should be simple, humane and practical. You must be virtuous.” These are principles that resonate with his experience, he says.

“When you have to overcome respiratory problems growing up, and when every school you attend is either public or funded by someone else, you become very grateful. You feel life has helped you so that you can help others. You also see people as equals — not superior or inferior to you. You understand that life and your place in it are transitory circumstances.”

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Bloomberg.

Bloomberg invited the GETTERS of the financial market in Latin America to share their insightful stories about their careers, their success stories and the challenges they had to face while not only witnessing the development of this fast-paced environment, but actively contributing to its evolution by creating new tools, sharing best practices and inspiring change.